The View

Do you know the ONLY thing you can incontrovertibly count on? Change. In fact, constant change is emerging as the new “normal.” And who will succeed in this new normal? That’s easy, those that embrace change as an opportunity to learn, to grow. Well who in the heck does that? Apparently it is wealthy, successful people according to Tom Corley in his book, Rich Habits – The Daily Success Habits of Wealthy Individuals. Yup, I was sucked into this article from a Facebook post. (Never underestimate the power of Social Media as well!)

I may not be a self-made millionaire, but I do love to ask questions, and I love to learn. And maybe someday I would LIKE to be one of those. Thus I just had to know what the 83 questions were.

I was excited to learn that according to his study, “Typically, immediately upon waking, self-made millionaires would find a quiet space and think for about 15 to 30 minutes.” Every morning I do this very thing… I wakeup Ryan, knowing it will take 20 minutes for my 12-year old to work his way out of bed and down the stairs, and I head into the kitchen to make a beautiful cup of coffee. The next 40 minutes or so are some of my favorite minutes in my day. I start with the news and Facebook just for a quick glance at the world to make sure no earth-shattering changes have happened while I slept. Then it’s time to just think about “what-ifs,” and “maybe I shoulds.” Some days it is work-focused questions, others it is family.

It is not for very long, as Ryan soon joins me for breakfast and usually some interesting discussion for another 20 minutes keeps us both questioning and exploring interesting things. Then he is off to school and I am off to work. It wasn’t until I was writing this article that I even realized just how important that first forty-five minutes of the day is to me and that maybe, just maybe, that is contributing to my “success.”

Back to Tom Corley’s article – What are the rich, successful, self-made millionaires “thinking” about for their first 30 minutes? They are questioning. Everything. From their career objectives to finances, family, friends, business relationships, health, and charity, they ask of themselves things like:

Career

How can I increase my value to my clients, customers or my employer? Do I work hard enough? Am I lazy? What am I really good at? What am I really bad at? Does my job make me happy?

Finance

Do I spend too much money? How much will I need to retire on? How much do I actually spend each month? Should I create a budget? Should I revise my budget?

Family

Can I work less and spend more time with my family? Are we spoiling our kids? How can I improve my relationship with my spouse, my kids?

Friends

Do I have as many friends as I should? Do I spend enough time with the friends I have? Is my work interfering too much with my social life?

Business Relationships

What can I do to improve my business relationships? Am I staying in touch enough with my key customers, clients? Do my customers/clients like me? Do they think I do a good job?

Health

Am I exercising enough? Should I get a physical? Do I get enough sleep?

Happiness

Am I happy? How can I eliminate those things that are making me unhappy? Is my family happy? Are my employees or staff happy? How can I make myself happier? What is happiness? Will I ever be happy? What’s making me so happy?

Charity

How can I best help my community? Should I contribute more money to my school or church? Who can I help?

When I take the time to stop and think about this, it really does make sense. Frankly, if you never ask the question, how are you ever going to find an answer?

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